Sweet Surrender

I adopted a kitty. My second adoption of the year after driving up to Salem Oregon in June to rescue a border collie of the same name as the one I lost in February. This Maggie had been raised with cats and peacocks and the gal peddling kittens from the back of her SUV at The Wilderville store said the kittens had been raised with dogs.
A quick trip to get some propane for my BBQ and suddenly I was introducing Maggie to her new playmate. Seems like its working out, they are instantly the best of friends.

Stayin' Alive

The three days of triple digit temps drove us out of town and out to the coast, where an hour and a half West on 199 we landed on a gorgeous sunny beach at Whaleshead, named appropriately for the shape of the rock and spray that looks like the spout rocketing a greeting to the shore.
Ruth Ann followed us, anxious to return to the river that hooked her last summer and our favorite camping destination heat wave or not.
It was a hastily prepared pack job and created some challenges cooking and eating wise. One plastic fork, no spatula, but thanks to Ruthie, plenty of excellent Oregon and California wine. Our priorities were in order if our camping gear was not.
After an hour of beach time and the thrill of feeling the fog roll in, we headed up river and set up camp. After releasing Maggies ashes into the river rolling out to the ocean, I put together some tomato slabs with mozzarella and basil, and Ruthie cracked a bottle of Williamette Valley Orange Blossom. Dave lit the mosquito coils and the evening closed lying on the rocks next to the rivers edge under an ebony sky watching the big dipper dip behind the trees intensifying the feeling of magical and spiritual serenity.
The next day, with perfect temps to bask in we hung out on a small island overlooking a pool of water so clear and blue it was hard to believe we were not at the Caribbean. A good swim was had by all, including the dogs who wore themselves out while we ate Fritos and indulged in some California Chardonnay.
After a memorable day Ruth Ann packed and headed up the coast to explore Coos Bay and Dave and I decided to stay another night.
Back in the Rogue Valley the heat wave is still happening but it is in the reasonably tolerable stage and my life and garden desperately needed some TLC. It is amazing to see the survival of the fittest nature wise as I have spent the majority of the morning watering all the parched and drooping plants AND playing with Maggie who is hardly outgrowing her water biting obsession. She makes it kinda difficult to really water at times but this morning when I finally lost my temper and made her drop and lay down, she finally did, right in front of the heart shaped rock that came back with us from the coast, picked up her head and gave me the biggest smile a dog can sport. I thought my heart was was going to burst, but instead I got my camera, fired up the hose and gave her a workout.
Another round of TLC please!

Blogs of note and poison oak

I know those little bumps, not a mosquito bite, not a fly bite, too itchy for anything but the dreaded poison oak bump. The cure in a bottle, Benadryl gel. And if i put it on soon enough the blistering will not happen.
Heres hoping, relief is a swab away.
I found out about the gel from my dear friend Deb who has since passed away. She was a ranger for the BLM and had the smarts about all things nature and outdoors related. It was her divorce and need for a place to move to after that motivated me to create a studio space downstairs where she lived for three years before getting cancer.
On another note I have gotten lost in a blog of note or two once again this morning, glimpses into other peoples lives, a few hours of voyeurism and procrastination. Its time to jump back into my life which has slowed down considerably these days since Young at Heart Publication has run out of money. Its been a month since I have been paid and there was apparently no money to print the August edition which is now going to be the September edition, good thing I didn't finish the Buzz and all the time sensitive happenings that will have to be changed. So I essentially have a couple weeks off to catch up on other creative projects, mow the lawn, post some stuff on ebay for sale and breathe. Thankfully my vintage trailer just sold to the sweetest couple in the world, giving me some needed funds. Thank you Nicole and Shawn!!!! I am so glad you love that trailer as much as I have, may you have many happy times in it as we have had!
The temps dropped back down after a record week of soaring triple digits, a power outage for 15 hours on a 109 degree day and the pump going down, requiring Dave to twist into a human pretzel for 45 minutes in the spider web filled pump house working on repriming and unclogging the unit that brings the water into the house from the ground. I am so grateful to have a man in my life with patience and mechanical smarts.
This month marks 8 years since we met on Julies back porch over home made pesto, and bonded instantly talking about music.
This week we did a much needed float down the river, our "old fogey float", spotting osprey, bald eagles and egrets.
Oh my....

The Rub

Scheesh another one of those stretches of time flying wheter you're having fun or not. Its been an exciting few weeks of activities, and working on the downstairs studio with Dave in anticipation of my friend Ruthie moving up from San Francisco and into the rental for the summer. Each time the rental turns over we get a window of opportunity to do a few more things to improve it, this time we painted the bathroom, not been painted at all since I moved in thirteen years ago.
Also on the 4th of June I headed North to rescue two dogs I saw on Pet Finders. One named Maggie and with a remarkably similar face and her seven year old companion Rowdy, a 74 pound butterball now on the Jenny Craig diet.
Its taken them a few weeks to settle down, especially since there have been a stream of dogs visiting and creating new challenges daily for them.
I was lucky to have my dear friend Hope come through on her way to San Francisco and back and spend the night. Her sweet dalmation Dominique is eleven and I remember going up to Hood River when Maggie was still a youngster and them rolling and tumbling and playing like the wild childs they were back then.
Ruth Ann (and Geoff who drove the truck) arrived a few days ago and after selling her loft, she rolled in with all kinds of presents, the very best being a couple of queen size beds for the upstairs bedrooms.
This week its been a flurry of company and cooking and starting to work on the July edition of the paper starting in earnest with the articles and last minute ads coming in. Attempting to create order and guidelines into a production that is understaffed and busy with the Senior Fair that the paper is sponsoring in two days at the local college has been a challenge.
Its summertime here in paradise, Julies' jasmine is blooming and there is a stream of friends visiting, I love this time of the year when my porch light is always on!

Coming unglued

"There is sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love." -Washington Irving (1783-1859)

All those cliches about one door opening and another closing, life turning on a dime, appreciate each day for the gift it is, are small reminders and nano comfort these days. Frankly I've been having a terrible time getting on with things. The depressing rainy weather hand in hand with my seemingly endless flow of tears contributes to my feeling still in shock. I am so eternally thankful for Dave in my life he has been my rock and lifeboat, and has left Pepper here with me when he is not. She has in fact been here since losing Maggie. There is no replacing one dog with another but I see fully the benefit gained by the distraction. Plus she is very cute.
When I lost Mona, I waited six months before adopting Maggie at the local animal shelter, or even going through the effort of looking. I'm not sure why I waited so long, life was so sure quiet without a dog for those months. Really quiet. But looking back, I was waiting for her. When I broke down and went down the row of barking lunging dogs at the pound, she was the only one sitting quietly in her cell staring at me. She had a pink slip on her door, not a job dismissal, and when she came outside with me, she circled my legs like a cat and stole my heart.
Its been ten years and life without her seems so hard, everyday gets a little easier, but I'm still coming apart at the seams. Photos of her, phone calls and comforting emails from friends and family all still seem to push me over the edge. She was larger than life, and I believe leaves my life better because of her presence in it.

Free Falling

U is for UNPREPARED for losing Maggie
The bus ran off the road on Friday, it started off like any other day. Had I known it would end like it did I would have not spent so much time working on the computer and would have skipped my volunteer shift on Thursday. I would have made more time to stroke her head and tell her what an incredible companion she has been since the day I brought her home from the pound. She was always so funny, smart, so undemanding, loyal and devoted but independent, so if I was busy working she was totally content. We had our rhythm, which after living ten years 24/7 together is no surprise.
She had been having some difficulties, and was hardly eating, and drinking more water than normal so I called the vet and scheduled an appointment for 3.
She had been to the vet in December but saw a new vet who said the lump in her side Dave felt was just a full bladder, took no x-rays or showed any concern despite our worries that she was kind of lethargic. But she had lost BuBu 5 months previously, and we all were still recovering that loss.
Friday was different, our regular vet felt her swollen belly, immediately took an x-ray and she was in surgery 15 minutes later. She said she probably wouldn't have made it through the weekend. I prayed for a miracle but when the vet came out, I only had to look at the expression of pain on her face to know I had lost her. It was cancer and it had spread to her liver.
I still feel heartbroken I had less than five minutes to say goodbye, I was so not prepared. In my worst nightmare, never would I have thought I would be taking her to the vet that day and not bringing her home.
Now there is a giant hole in my life and heart and I am still falling into it.